What was most surprising to me in the past reading was how the idea of the “American Dream” has changed so much over the past two centuries and how this has affected generations to come. Looking at many of the first colonists, the American dream originally focused on freedom: freedom of religion, freedom of speech and the freedom to conduct business and pursue a better life. As these colonies advanced and grew, the dream did as well. No longer were people happy simply being free; they wanted to move up in life. It became about building the biggest and best cities with the best technology to produce the best goods that money could buy. Forming cities became magnets to the iron shavings of colonists looking to make it in the world. The small cities that first developed by waterways out of survival turned into bustling port cities while small towns situated by waterfalls and other bodies of running water became major textile hubs. There was the rise of what could be considered the first middle class, a working class.

As this working class advanced with the technology around it, the American dream did as well. Working in large cities was great and all, but who wanted to deal with all the pollution and waste? With the advent of cars and the improving railroad and trolley systems, the working class sought escape from the city, leading to the rise of the suburbs. Here, I think, is where things start to get interesting. As this middle class leaves the city, they leave behind many things. They leave their dilapidated neighborhoods, their tight living quarters and they leave behind groups they consider to be of a lower class. What they don’t leave behind are their jobs, leaving those that are left behind little or no opportunity to advance as the original middle class once did. This social class segregation can still be seen and felt today, especially in neighborhoods all throughout New York. Many neighborhoods in Downtown Brooklyn that were once home to some of the richest New Yorkers in the early 20^th century changed and were considered to be some of the worst neighborhoods in the borough up until about a decade ago when gentrification really took off.